Been Given 24 Hours
by 99 prollems
Summary: Faith gets attacked by a mysterious demon and falls ill. Little does she know that the next 24 hours, could be her last. Can Buffy save her? What will Faith do? RR
1. Reality

**A/N: This is based on the song 24 by Jem, and kind of steals the 1 hour countdown routine from 24, though I've never watched the show. I'm not sure where this story's going, if there will be pairings and what they should be. I'm just winging it.**

**Summary: Set after "Chosen". Things are going well for the Scoobs until a Faith gets attacked by a demon and falls incredibly ill. This could be the last 24 hours of her life.**

**Suggest pairings!**

**Disclaimer: All character's belong to Joss.**

**Been Given 24 Hours**

**Prologue**

Faith had been on patrol, a typical night in LA. It was different here--a big city-- as apposed to the little town that was Sunnydale. She had gotten an apartment with Buffy, which was nice. One bed, one bathroom. But it worked. The TV's picture wasn't so great but hey, she couldn't ask for much more.

Willow had gotten an apartment on the same floor with Kennedy, obviously, but no one saw much of Xander anymore. Sometimes they'd find him grabbing a few beers at the local pub, taking up the Harris family tradition. Ever since Anya's death during the final fight, he had secluded from the group.

Giles now owned a coffee shop, down the street from the apartment plaza. There were meetings every so often, and he had equipment in the back of his shop where he trained new Slayers. There was so many now.

Though, ever since the destruction of the Hell mouth, no too many threats had come across the team. Until of course..

Something of a crippled looking, grey skinned demon approached the dark Slayer. It had claws long enough to bring tigers to shame, and red eyes that pierced through her. It's back was arched so the demon was shaped like a gorilla, but much, much thinner and sleak.

"You're an ugly little bitch.." Faith teased, smiling as she leaped towards it, taking a quick shot to it's jaw. It quickly recoiled, jumping as quick as lightning behind her, and forcing it's claws into her back, poking through to her stomach. It pulled them out quickly, hissing and hopping away, leaving Faith doubled over in pain.

----------------

"Anything?"

Angel closed the book in his hands, looking to the blonde before him. "Nothing."

"Dammit.." Buffy grumbled. She rubbed her temples in frustration. Her eyes drifted over the couch, where her Slayer sister laid, her eyes closed and forehead dripping with sweat. The older Slayer shook her head. "If we don't find something..Ugh. Angel.."

"We will."

And suddenly the brunette Slayer's eyes opened weakly, seeing Angel and Buffy before her, staring with forced smiles.

Her words came out slow, raspy. "I don't think I've ever felt like this much shit in my life." She tried to laugh, ease off the tension in the room or something. Didn't go over too well. "So what's up? There a cure or what?"

Amazed by her casual tone on the subject, the two fell silent.

"Faith..we, uh, haven't found anything yet." Angel managed to say quietly.

Faith's eyes grew wide. "Nothing..is that right.."

"But we'll find something." Buffy chimed in. "Don't worry, we will."

"You know me."

Angel and Buffy exchanged looks, obvious concern washing over the blonde's features and she dropped her gaze to the ground. It wasn't long before the darker Slayer had once again passed out.

"Angel..this is getting worse. Look at her." And they both did. "If we don't find a cure soon...I don't..She can't hold up much longer."

The vampire remained silent, eyes now focused back on his former love. He sighed. "There has to be some kind of cure."

"There needs to be some kind of cure."

Another sigh. "Well..people don't live forev—"

Buffy put a hand up to silence him. "Right. I forgot. You're not exactly optimisty-guy." Her arms were now crossed. "Can you at least try to be sunny and smiles until we can fix this? I can't be strong for myself all the time yanno. Dead mom, some dead friends here and there, kinda sucks the happy out."

His mouth opened to say something but quickly snapped shut.

"We can fix this."

At that, they both went back to the books.

----In Faith's Mind-----

_Faith is walking on a concrete road, a path that seems never ending. There is grass all around her, but no trees, no civilization. Just her, and the road. She walks, barefooted, wearing only what appears to be a hospital gown. In the distance, she hears whispers._

_Suddenly there are crowds all around her, exchanging secrets amongst each other. Faith watches, all of them looking at her, some in fear, some in disgust._

"_There she is..the murderer."_

"_I hear she does it for play."_

"_What a vile creature..look at the way she walks."_

"_Look at her."_

"_The murderer."_

"_Disgusting."_

"_Evil. Pure evil."_

_The whispers seem to swirl around in Faith's mind, like a flood. She drops to her knees, scratching at her skull for some release. And suddenly, a warm presence comforts her, and a hand is in front of her. Without even looking at the face of her savior, she took the hand, all the whispers ceasing at once._

"_Faith, you'll always have me."_

_Still, no face is revealed._

_She walks hand in hand with this stranger for a time. And soon, she feels herself falling. Her arm outstretched, reaching for the hand of her rescuer, but this time, there was no one. And now she can see the face, as she falls._

_It's the Mayor, with a soft smile on his lips, waving goodbye to his daughter Slayer._

_She keeps falling, deeper, deeper, the face of the Mayor getting smaller and smaller as she sinks into darkness. Soon, there is nothing, but darkness._

And her eyes shot open, sweat dripping off her forehead, rolling down all the way off her chin. She breathed heavily, lifting her body up weakly. "Damn.." was the only thing that managed to get out of her mouth, before slouching back into the couch.

"You're awake..finally." Someone said softly, putting a damp cloth to Faith's head. "How're you feeling?"

Faith could now make out the figure before her, who was Buffy. Her vision was fuzzy though, and she blinked a few times to clear it. "Five by five."

The smaller girl chuckled weakly. "I'm sure."

"B.."

Buffy paused. "Hm?"

"I had this wicked weird dream..You know, black holes, me falling. All that. And I figured something out."

"And that is..?"

"I'm dying."

**A/N: Okay so that was short, and kind of lame. But please review!**


	2. First Hour

**A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed, it's highly appreciated. So far almost everyone has asked for a B/F pairing but I haven't decided yet. There will be 23 chapters ahead, so I have a lot of time to pick, haha. But the intent will be there.**

**Keep up the reviews, the more reviews, the faster I'll update.**

**Thanks again to the reviewers! So much. And to salty-goodness-lover(love the name..), I'm not sure if I'll be getting Faith a cure. We'll just have to see. :)**

**Disclaimer: I still don't own these character's.**

**Been Given 24 Hours**

**First Hour**

Buffy just sat there, eyes wide with shock and disbelief. She sat up, moving her hand away from Faith's forehead. "What makes you think that..?" The small girl questioned softly, swallowing hard.

"I just know, B." Faith replied with something of a smile playing of her lips. "Who woulda thought I'd go down like this."

The blonde stood up abruptly, no longer facing the girl, causing Faith's smile to fade and her eyebrow to quirk up. "Faith..how can you say that?" She turned, now facing her once more, green eyes filled with fear. "You can't die.."

Something about the way Buffy was looking at her made Faith shift uncomfortably. Her eyes drifted away from the older Slayer's gaze, looking anywhere but her.

"We've been through so much." Buffy sat down again, beside her. And Faith's gaze finally met her's again.

The dark Slayer smiled weakly. "For sure."

"I meant in the past year."

"Huh?"

Buffy grinned, unlocking their eyes and looking down at her hands. "We share an apartment. We fight, we makeup, we fight more. We'll hate each other for a day and you'll do something all un-Faith like and make me forgive you again. I don't know..it's just..I can't let go of you yet..I don't know if I ever---"

She looked over at Faith who had, once again, passed out. Something about the sight of the brunette out cold on that couch made Buffy want to smile, but at the same time she was choking back tears. She knew Faith was right. She knew that Faith was dying, and there was nothing she could do about it.

But all of this seemed to bring back memories that Buffy held so dear to her.

—Flashback—

Buffy had just burst open the apartment door, thanking goodness for Slayer strength. Faith had been scooped up in her arms, a typical night, dragging this drunken girl home. The blonde sluggishly walked over to the couch where she roughly plopped Faith down. The girl was out cold, and Buffy slipped off her coat, and sat on the ground next to the couch.

The brunette's eyes fluttered open. Her head ached. "Shit.."

"Booze hound."

Faith sat up, smirking at the sight of her blonde friend below her. "What are you doing? Watching me sleep?"

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Yeah, that's it." She played along sarcastically. "No, Faith.. You're like this every night."

"I drink, so what?"

"You drink too much, that's what."

Faith's smirk faded, replaced with the look Buffy despised so much. The you-can't-tell-me-what-to-do look. "Why don't you drink? I see you eyeing the beer, the Vodka shots. Live a little, B."

"No, Faith. I'm the one who has to drag you home every night, and be at your side all the time. What am I? Your mom? You're like a freaking little kid." The girl sighed, irritated. "You need to grow up, Faith. I can't do this anymore."

The dark haired girl got up angrily, but sloppily, still woozy from the booze. She walked over to the door. "You wanna leave?" She opened the door, gesturing for Buffy to walk out. "Then get out."

"That's not what I said.."

"Get out!"

Silence.

"Is that what you want Faith?"

More silence. But this one was soon interupted by the sound of the door slamming shut.

"I thought that's what you wanted, B. Yanno, so you wouldn't have to babysit me anymore." Faith sneered, leaning against the door.

Buffy gathered her thoughts, taking in a deep breathe and meeting Faith's gaze. Her brunette counterpart was frowning, awaiting a response. "That's not it."

"Then what the hell do you want from me?"

"Stop drinking?" She swallowed. "Please? At least for week. Just prove to me that you can."

"You think I can't?"

"We'll see."

Faith sauntered over to her friend, placing her hand out. "You got yourself a deal girlfriend."

And they shook on it.

The following day, Faith had an awful hangover, and remained in bed most of the day. Buffy wanted so badly to tease her, but the sight of her friend lazily dragging herself to the toilet to puke, made her hold her tongue. _Serves her right.._ The blonde thought, a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

But Faith stayed true to their agreement, and hadn't had one drink since. It surprised Buffy, and she knew that Faith probably was only doing it to prove her wrong. But she hoped that she was doing it, because she knew it would make Buffy happy. Wishful thinking, probably.

Sometimes though, people prove us wrong.

A week had now passed, and Faith still hadn't returned to her old ways. And one night, after a hefty night of slaying, Buffy was greeted to the heavy smell of dinner when she entered the apartment. Her jaw dropped when she saw Faith sitting there, with food set for two.

"Bout time." The girl said quietly, setting her fork down and standing up.

"What is all this?"

Faith paused. "Dinner..what's it look like?"

Buffy just giggled, eagerly taking of her jacket and sitting at the seat set for her. There was chicken on the plate, that looked–to her surprise–well cooked. There was also a small salad, with just lettuce and mushrooms, the way Buffy liked it. And to top it off some fries, which didn't look as presentable but the girls loved fries.

"Faith this is.." Buffy looked up at her, smiling gently. "This is so thoughtful."

"What can I say?" She said flashing the blonde a typical smirk.

"Did you make all this yourself?"

"You bet."

And with that, Buffy's grin grew wider as she cut a piece of her chicken, carefully examining it, then eating it. She clapped her hands in glee. "Faith! This is so good! Since when did you go all Emeril on me?"

"When you're a kid in Boston with a drunk-ass mom, you kinda learn how to fend for yourself." She looked up at Buffy, some kind of twinkle in her eye. "That usually included mac and cheese, but soon I was a pro."

The blonde chuckled. "I can't even see you boiling water."

Faith grinned, a full grin that reached her eyes, and even revealed her dimples. "Well I can. And hey, at least I can drive."

Buffy stuck out her tongue in a very child-like manner. "No you can't, you just have that Harley."

"I _have_ something though. Besides you love it."

"No, psh. I hate motorcycles. Your's just isn't loud and has the comfy seats."

"You just like me in that helmet."

The blonde roared with laughter. "Oh yeah and your huge cop sunglasses, what a stud!"

And they went on debating the whole night, laughing all the while. It was one of Buffy's most dear memories of them.

Though she was snapped out of her trip down memory lane when Angel entered the room, a strange device in his hand.

"Buffy, I found something that could be related to Faith's condition." He held out his hand, revealing an old looking clock, or something of that sorts, crusted and broken at certain spots. It had symbols and one hand, that was moving very slowly. "Giles has more detailed volumes, he's looking into it too."

For a while the slayer just sat in silence, her eyes fixed on Faith. "Angel..She woke up again, and she said that..she thinks she's..dying." Buffy swallowed.

"Dying?"

A nod.

"Well.. She can't know that for sure. None of us do." He reassured, taking a few steps closer to the girl.

And suddenly, the old time clock starting rumbling in Angel's hands, causing him to drop it abruptly. The two watched as it shook, and one of symbols disappeared, seemingly evaporated to dust. And it went back to normal. Buffy blinked.

"..Er, what just happened?"

Then the phone rang.

"I'll get it." Angel said quickly, going over to the phone. "Hello? Giles, yes. Right. Yeah. It does..oh. Alright. I'll get back to you."

"So what's the sitch? This an apolcolpty thing or---"

"There's a countdown."

"A what what?"

"That clock." He gestured to the object on the ground. "It's counting down, those symbols represent numbers going up to 24."

"24 what?"

"Hours." The vampire paused, looking down and slipping his hands into his pockets. "24 hours until..Faith dies."

**A/N: Dun dunnn cliffhanger. Haha now you have to read the next 23 chapters. :D Hope you enjoy, please review!**


	3. Second Hour

**A/N: Heyyy again readers. I want to thank again all those who reviewed, you guys keep me motivated. :) **

**To 5by5, you pretty much nailed my idea for an ending right on the head. It will be angsty, emotional, and all that good stuff. So look forward to it. ;D**

**To gorgeousbowneyes, thank you especially for pointing out that Buffy's a little off. I'll work on that, she isn't exactly my favorite character and I'm not as good as finding her voice as I am with Faith. I'll work on it though. **

**And thanks to all the rest!**

**Disclaimer: See previous chapters.**

**Been Given 24 Hours**

**Second Hour**

Buffy couldn't seem to pick her gaze up off the ground. Her eyes were wide with shock, and a tint of anger. Angel walked up behind her, placing gentle hands on her shoulders. She immediately responded by jerking away. "Don't.." She whispered.

He nodded in response, but moved so he could face her, causing her eyes to drift up and meet his.

"How do I tell her that, Angel?" She said slowly, voice shaky.

"I think it would be best if we didn't." Angel's chocolate hues fell. "She'll start to feel better within this hour, and feel normal for the remaining time."

The girl was in shock. This moment felt so unreal, as if soon her eyes would open and Faith would be lying next to her, the sounds of her snoring ringing through their apartment. It had to be a nightmare. The room felt like it was spinning, and she was just standing still, watching everything as it spins out of control. And then there's Faith. Looking so peaceful on the couch. Buffy feels herself walk over as the rest of the room continues to spin, Angel getting lost somewhere in the mix. She sits by her counterpart, throwing Faith's limp arm around herself and burying her face into the brunette's collarbone. The world is at peace again.

Angel watched the whole thing, something of guilt washing over his being. He went over to the couch, bending to the girls and wrapping his arms around the two. "We'll fix this Buffy..we will." He whispered, holding them closer and wondering if he was really reassuring her, or himself.

Faith's eyes opened weakly as she stirred, quickly recognizing the warmth on her body. The sight before her made her squirm, and laugh slightly. "Uh, hey."

The vampire pulled away quickly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Er. Um. Sorry." was all he managed to spit out.

Though Buffy remained there, her arms still firmly around her sister Slayer, her head resting on the other girl's shoulder. "We took a nap." she lied.

"Oh, right. Well hey I don't wanna break up this cuddly-thing but I'm starved."

With that, Buffy reluctantly let go and let Faith go into the kitchen. Buffy watched her and then slowly turned to Angel, who was standing with his arms crossed. "Does she know?"

"Know what?" He questioned.

"What's happening."

"She won't, unless we tell her. She won't get the symptoms again until the last hour."

Buffy nodded. "She said before though..that she knew she was dying."

"Well she can't remember that now. She'll go on through today like nothing ever happened." Angel slipped his hands into his pockets fidgeting with the items inside and awkwardly rocking on his feet. "I should go see Giles. We can do more research and you can keep Faith company.."

The Slayer forced a smile and a nod towards his way and with that he turned and left. This was going to be the longest 23 hours of her life.

"Where'd Soul Boy go?" asked Faith, stepping out of the kitchen with a bag of Doritos.

"He went to go ..do book stuff." Buffy replied, mentally kicking herself for her stupidity.

Faith paid no attention though, strolling over to the couch casually and flicking on the TV. The older girl shifted around uncomfortably, watching her friend scoop chips into her mouth and channel surf. She really had no idea.

"Faith.."

"Yeah?" Her attention was now on Buffy.

"Do you wanna do something today?"

"Sure B." She smirked.

"I was thinking pizza and movies and going out on the town..Possibly Helen's Diner too."

"Man, I must be pretty cool."

Buffy just nodded, her eyes wandering around shyly. Her friend could feel the awkwardness floating around them in the air, and stood up, tossing Buffy the tv changer.

"Well I'm gonna shower and get ready, then we can motor." And she turned and went on to her business.

The petite girl shook her head, letting it hang and fall into her palms. She sighed deeply.

Faith stood in front of the mirror, taking out her earring studs and placing them on the counter. She felt strange, but couldn't put her finger on it what exactly felt that way. Ignoring it, she slipped out of her clothes, and into the warmth of the shower. The water soothed her skin, and she ran her hands through her hair, entangling in the moment. Her deep brown eyes closed, relaxed.

When she opened them back up though, the site of blood being sucked into the gutter stained her vision. The peace was broken. Faith backed up, and her eyes drifted to her side, where the blood had fallen from. She placed a hand on the wound gingerly, falling to her knees.

----At Gile's place----

"I think I've found something," The Watcher said dryly, taking off his glasses and rubbing them clean. "related to Faith's condition. The demon was called Della Morte, originated in Italy. They have limp, skinny bodies and raven claws that eject a poison when coming into contact with skin."

"What's it say about cures?"Angel questioned instantly.

"Well, erm, nothing. Not that I've seen anyway. It does say, however, state that this poison was developed by Hell Gods specifically for taking the lives of Slayers.."

The vampire stopped.

"And there are no records of any Slayer surviving from it."

**A/N: They won't all end like this, just FYI. Hope you enjoyed:D** **Sorry for the short ness by the way.**


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